Vols basketball struggles, sneaks past against South Carolina

Tennessee basketball struggled to rid itself of a persistent South Carolina team on Wednesday night.

Then the Vols went where they often do when they need a big basket and dropped the ball down low to Grant Williams with less than 10 seconds to play and leading by one point. The sophomore forward simply told himself to make the right play and not to “try and be spectacular.” He backed down, spun and scored to assure Tennessee would not falter for the second straight game.

Tennessee forward Grant Williams (2) dribbles around South Carolina forward Jason Cudd (33) during a game between Tennessee and South Carolina at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee on Tuesday, February 13, 2018.

Tennessee sneaked past the Gamecocks, winning 70-67 to get back in the win column after a large Saturday loss at Alabama.

“Saturday was a tough time,” sophomore guard Jordan Bowden said. “We know the things we did that we didn’t do. We got better at it and tried to get better at the things we messed up on Saturday.”

Vols coach Rick Barnes wasn’t pleased with the offensive play, especially from his guards, but praised the defense despite the Gamecocks shooting 48 percent in the second half.

“Defensively, we were a much better team tonight than we were at Alabama,” Barnes said.

Tennessee’s lead grew as large as 14 in the second half, but the Vols led by only one in the final minute. UT’s guards turned over the ball three times down the stretch. Lamonte Turner first was called for a charge, then Bowden tossed a ball out of bounds and James Daniel III dribbled himself into a turnover on the baseline.

South Carolina scored after each turnover, cutting the lead to one on a floater from Frank Booker, who led the Gamecocks with 19. Then Williams made his final basket on a night he shot 7-for-10 from the field to wrap up the win and keep the Vols from suffering their first two-game losing streak since the opening week of SEC play.

“Turnovers happen,” Williams said. “You know they are going to try and fight back into the game. We were controlling most of the game. We just understood and we knew what we wanted to do coming down. …

“You can’t sink your head. If you do, they are going to win the game.”

Tennessee extended a four-point halftime lead to six before South Carolina tied the game 40-40 with six straight points. The Vols slowly built a lead until they broke out for a 10-0 run in 1:49 to take a 13-point lead.

Williams got the run started with a putback before Bowden made a crucial play when he dove and wrapped up the ball, forcing a tie-up with two South Carolina defenders. He made a 3-pointer on the other end. Schofield drove and scored and Turner ended the run with a 3-pointer.

UT pushed its lead to 14 on a Williams and-one, but the stronghold didn’t last long. South Carolina responded with a 10-0 run, highlighted by a pair of corner 3-pointers and capped by a Hassani Gravett transition jumper.

“Your defense gets the lead, your offense has to keep it,” Barnes said. “We had the lead and our offense was what failed us.”

The Vols hit back with a 7-2 run to seemingly pull away for good, but the Gamecocks hung around. South Carolina scored eight straight points in a two-minute span to cut the Tennessee lead to one with less than a minute to play.

“We knew we had to stay focused on defense and stay locked in and not give up easy points,” Bowden said. “That’s what we did in that little stretch. But we got the win and that’s all that matters.”

Tennessee unsurprisingly went to Williams on the final possession after Barnes called a timeout with 22 seconds left.

“I don’t think I needed my college degree to figure out where that ball was going that possession,” South Carolina coach Frank Martin said.

Williams backed down USC’s Chris Silva, who had 12 points despite foul trouble, and put the Vols up three. Barnes called for the Vols to foul South Carolina and not let the Gamecocks attempt a game-tying 3-pointer. They didn’t execute like they did at Kentucky on Tuesday, but Justin Minaya’s attempt fell well short as Tennessee emerged victorious behind defense.

“It won tonight because I’m telling you, our offense wasn’t good,” Barnes said. “Even though they shot 48 percent, when we needed to get some stops, we did.”